Monday, March 26, 2007

Failure to Compute

Jessica Valenti at the BushvChoice blog has a post attacking the bill in South Carolina which would require women to see an ultrasound of their child before having an abortion. At the end of her post, Jessica has a paragraph which makes no sense at all. I think this is mainly because of the pro-choice echo chamber she's in. Some pro-choice activists, including Jessica, are convinced the restrictions prolifers enact to limit abortion aren't about protecting the unborn but rather are about punishing women for having wanted sex. Sometimes they'll go to the most absurd lengths to fit this fiendish motive on prolifers. For example,

And if you had any doubt that this law was about punishing women, and somehow making them “face” their transgression, check this out:

Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, railed against Republicans for opposing his amendment to exempt victims of rape and incest from the required ultrasound viewing.

This logic goes to show that this isn’t about making sure women are informed—it’s about punishing them. So women who were raped shouldn’t have to have their noses rubbed in their pregnancies and be punished any further--that’s just for the “bad” women who wanted to have sex. Ugh.

Huh? Either Jessica didn't read the article very carefully or somehow she thinks because an amendment sponsored by a Democrat (who voted against the legislation without his amendment) to provide exemptions for rape and incest was turned down by Republicans, that somehow proves Republicans want to punish women who wanted to have sex.

When you believe the mean-spirited motives you've put on your opponents, it appears it is difficult to recognize information which turns your theory on its head.